Opinion
Kansans have a chance to help prevent wrongful evictions from care facilities
The Kansas Reflector welcomes opinion pieces from writers who share our goal of widening the conversation about how public policies affect the day-to-day lives of people throughout our state. Margaret Farley is executive director of Kansas Advocates for Better Care. In the 1970s, I was an RN discharge planner at a hospital in Overland Park. A […]
Today’s insurrectionists echo the 1980s sound of western Kansas
The seditionist attack on the U.S. Capitol will forever be tied to former President Donald Trump’s Big Lie about a stolen election. But the tree of sedition has many branches, and its roots go deep in the fertile prairie of 1980s Kansas. As a congressional staffer, I watched the 1980s radical movement unfold — and […]
What if we listened to the people who’ve spent 15 years protesting the Kansas City NFL team’s name
We’re not going to debate whether Kansas City’s NFL team should change its name. It should. What we’re going to do, as the team and its fans celebrate their second trip to the Super Bowl in as many years, is spend a couple of minutes listening to the people who’ve been peacefully protesting before games […]
Kansans have spent 22 years restoring Constitution Hall to remind us of our Free State heritage
The Topeka Constitution was unequivocal: “There shall be no Slavery in this State.” It was also, in 1856, regarded as rebellion by the sitting president. One of the things about our present cyclone of current events is that it’s easy to forget that history doesn’t follow a 24-hour news cycle. Even though we may feel […]
What one Black man wants Kansans to know about watching the insurrection
The Kansas Reflector welcomes opinion pieces from writers who share our goal of widening the conversation about how public policies affect the day-to-day lives of people throughout our state. Matthew L. Kane is a doctoral student and adjunct professor at a university in Kansas. To: You From: A Black man It’s been more than two […]
Let’s hope 17 Kansas Senators never need a public defender
Who believes in second chances — especially when a person has done nothing wrong? This is a rhetorical question, today, because this column will not have the kind of concrete answer that would hold up in a court of law. Instead, it’s based on the kind of phantom wisdom that passes for a valid argument […]
How Kansas’ Koch Industries helped fuel the U.S. Capitol insurrection
The Kansas Reflector welcomes opinion pieces from writers who share our goal of widening the conversation about how public policies affect the day-to-day lives of people throughout our state. Marcela Mulholland is the political director at Data for Progress. Earlier this month, when domestic terrorists overran the U.S. Capitol, they did not act alone. Not […]
As an elder takes the oath in Washington, let’s listen to some young politicians in Kansas
On Wednesday, barring any disruption by Timothy McVeigh wannabes, Joe Biden will be sworn in as the oldest person to take office as president of the United States. This is a fact, not a judgment; voters rationally understood that correcting course after the reign of a sociopathic toddler would require the calm force of experience. […]
What Joe Biden must accomplish in an inaugural address like no other
The Kansas Reflector welcomes opinion pieces from writers who share our goal of widening the conversation about how public policies affect the day-to-day lives of people throughout our state. Diana B. Carlin is professor emerita of communication at Saint Louis University who has taught speechwriting at the University of Kansas as well as a course […]
Here are practical ways Kansans can support Black Lives Matter and help police, too
If you are a Kansan celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s holiday, there’s something you can do this year besides tweet a quote or reread “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” It does involve some reading. And the writing is less inspiring on the surface than anything King wrote. But it’s a set of practical suggestions […]
Why Joe Biden reminds me of another leader known as ‘Mr. Kansas Republican’
The Kansas Reflector welcomes opinion pieces from writers who share our goal of widening the conversation about how public policies affect the day-to-day lives of people throughout our state. Mike Hoeflich is a professor at the University of Kansas School of Law. I have had the fortune to serve as dean of two law schools: Syracuse University […]
Lessons about education we hope Kansans have learned from the pandemic experience
The Kansas Reflector welcomes opinion pieces from writers who share our goal of widening the conversation about how public policies affect the day-to-day lives of people throughout our state. Mark Farr is president of the Kansas National Education Association. As we look toward the distribution of a vaccine and the prospect of finally getting the COVID-19 […]